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Diabolically Arcane

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Manet or Monet?

10 September, 2013

This week, to take a break from intense Storming, I propose a game based on letter patterns. The idea was inspired by a crossword solver called Rob, who emailed last week. Last Friday he suspected my quick clue – Ineffectual people – was pointing to LIMP DICKS, rather than LAME DUCKS!

Can’t imagine we’ll top that ambiguity, but wonders never cease across these forums. For that’s our challenge – to craft a quick clue, where two answers share a strong overlap of letters. We can look for the sober kind:

M-N-T = French artist (2)
I-E-A-D = Nation (2)
– – MBA = Dance style (3) [RUMBA, SAMBA, ZUMBA]

Or the lame-duck deviations:

-OWARD = Chinless wonder (2)
P-R-I-G = Beach preoccupation (2)

If you feel a need to spell out your answers, such as my PARKING & PERVING example, then please oblige. Otherwise, let’s just see who can unearth the neatest or drollest examples. (And if you can imagine a further tangent this idea can take, then please suggest.) With no Friday ballot involved, this is less a Storm than a spot of R&R to give our voting brains a break!

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Riddledom Rave

If you missed my riddle chat with Richard Fidler, then feel free to slurp the podcast at http://ab.co/1I9t1x5

Text-speak is creeping into Scrabble. Where do you sit?
OBVS I'm fine with it
Entrenched stuff - like LOL and OMG - but no more.
Words With Friends, maybe. Scrabble, no
Let the 'real' dictionaries decide first
Just the handy stuff, like FAQ and EUW
I mean, WTF?! No way
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